


The Scarlet Beyond

by Legal_Party



Category: Gravity Falls, Infinity Train (Cartoon), Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts (Cartoon), Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Crossover, Horror, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Identity Issues, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Multiple Crossovers, Mystery, Nonbinary Character, Other, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, POV Alternating, Psychological Horror, it gets weird
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-22
Updated: 2020-05-18
Packaged: 2021-03-01 00:22:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 6,639
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23256136
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Legal_Party/pseuds/Legal_Party
Summary: Something is off,Something is wrong.They won,So what’s going on?Ladies, gentlemen, and everyone in between; welcome back my friends to the show that never ends!
Comments: 10
Kudos: 51





	1. In A Mess

“This can’t be happening! It’s all in my head! It's not real!” She told herself, turning the shower head off. Her feet stumbled out of the shower, as she nearly lost her balance.

Tulip Olsen felt like she was trapped in a nightmare. She had her number, even though she wasn’t on the Train. The number was going up every second, covering every inch of her body. She watched as her number rose past the quadruple digits, before stopping at an impossibly high score. The numbers covered her face, arms, and legs with a visible green glow. 

In a hurry, she threw on some PJs and went to bed. It was Summer, so she could stay in and pretend to be sick the next day. She needed to know why this was happening. In order to keep herself hidden from view, she wrapped herself up in her blankets. And if she just closed her eyes, she could ignore the number’s glow and drift off.

She wasn’t in her room anymore. Instead, she found herself in a massive pit. A dim red sun hung in the sky above, just bright enough to let her see her surroundings. Large red vines made up the surrounding walls, reaching out of the loose soil underneath. A flat plain of dirt sat at the bottom. 

Tulip picked herself up and dusted her PJs off. “Ugh, still got my number.” She said, her words echoing. Nothing was happening, so she started to wander around. “Am I back on the Train?” She asked from under her breath, before shouting at the top of her lungs. “Hello?! Is anyone there?! Kinda trapped in a hole right now! Could use some help!” 

No response came, or at least not a virble one. The investigative girl noticed something off; the ground was vibrating. It almost felt like the dirt was humming. Then something new caught her attention. In the center of this clearing, sat a very small rock. It was shiny and smooth, with a sharp point sticking upward. She poked the rock, feeling a small warmth radiating from it. Curiosity turned to panic, when her finger became stuck to the rock. The rock began to glow a golden yellow, heating up at the same time. It quickly sank beneath the soil, finally releasing its grip on Tulip. 

Only a few seconds later, a strange glowing being burst from the ground, knocking Tulip onto her back. It had cartoonish arms and legs, attached to a triangular body, with a single large eye. 

“It feels so good to exist again!” It cackled. 

* * *

Kipo Oak loved her bed, which was weird since she hasn’t been in a proper borrow bed in quite awhile. Well whatever she was sleeping on, it felt like her bed. Upon peeking one eye open, she realized she wasn’t where she fell asleep. She didn’t see any of her friends, just a steel wall. She also realized that she was using her mute arm. Not that she minded, it was nice and fuzzy. 

Time to figure this out. She sat up, giving her legs a quick stretch and scratching the back of her head with her paw. As she brought her arm to her side, she noticed something off. In the palm of her paw sat a glowing green number: eighteen.

First, she tried to shake it off. Then she tried to rub it off. “Whoa. Okay, this is really stuck to me.” She said, staring at the number.

She looked up, taking a good look at her surroundings. She was in some kind of sleeping quarters, the kinds you’d find on the ships she’d read about. Then something new hit her. 

_I’m on my own again._ She doesn't know where she was, she doesn't know how she got there. All her friends: Wolf, Benson, Dave, Mandu; they were nowhere to be seen.

She stood up and dashed to the door, peeking her head outside. Walking slowly to avoid attracting attention, she made her way through the corridor and past a bunch of doors with snoring on the other ends. At the end of the hallway was a strange red door. She twisted the bizarre doorknob and stepped outside. 

_What is this place?_ She asked herself. Kipo saw an endless wasteland outside, and the massive subway train carrying her through it. She was really far from home now.

“Good to see ya moving, fuzzy shrimp!” Said a jovial voice from behind.

* * *

“Steven! Wake up!” A familiar voice buzzed. Steven woke with a start, feeling like he was having a heart attack. He calmed his breaths, putting a hand on his chest. Lapis and Bismuth stood at the end of his bed, well Peridot had crawled up trying to wake him. 

“What’s wrong? What happened?” He asked, seeing that it was still dark out. 

“Little Homeworld is under attack,” Bismuth explained. 

“And the Crystal Gems are missing,” Lapis nervously continued.

“ **What?!** ” Steven shouted, scrambling to get out of bed. “Who’s attacking Little Homeworld?!”

“It’s some kind of biotech weapon, taking the form of these huge vines crushing everything,” Peridot explained, freaking out just as much as Steven. “I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s not in any of Homeworld’s archives.”

Bismuth clenched her fist. “It’s destroying everything we’ve worked towards! It doesn’t matter what it is, it needs to be stopped! Come on Steven; there’s no time to waste!” She bolted out the door and up to the warp pad, followed by Peridot on her trash can lid. 

With no time to change, Steven followed in his PJs, with Lapis following after him. “Are the Crystal Gems out somewhere?” He asked the ocean gem. “Pearl always keeps her phone on her, why isn’t she picking up?”

“No clue.”

The four huddled on the platform, warping straight to middle Little Homeworld. It was complete chaos. Buildings crushed under thick red vines, gems strangled by the alien weeds. The tower was completely engulfed by the vines. 

Before Steven could do anything, he felt this ringing in his ears. _No, more like humming._ It was deafening, drowning out the screams of trapped gems. The others had already ran off to help other gems, leaving Steven to stumble over and land against a large vine. 

Despite Peridot’s explanation, it didn’t feel alive. It was cold to the touch, mimicking the vacuum of space. 

His head hurt like crazy, but he just needed some sleep. _Just a minute or two._ He closed his eyes and quickly fell under, as a vine wrapped around his head. 

“Host is very weak,” Was the last thing he heard. Whoever said that, they sounded just like him.


	2. Meeting New Faces

“Oh I’ve missed **so** much!” The strange being said, bending his flat body backwards. “Ah, it feels good to stretch these bricks!”

Tulip stood there dumbfounded. However, this was far from the weirdest thing she had seen. _So many ducks._ The triangle quickly floated over, getting right in her face. She fell backwards and landed on her ass.

“What’s your name, skin suit?” 

“Uh, Tulip,” She answered, not liking the fact that he just called her a skin suit. “And you are?”

“Names William Coded, and wow! You’re looking really stupid when your covered in numbers like that. Like some kind of living tax form!” He joked, before letting out an insanely annoying laugh.

“I don’t think you have any right to judge,” She said, glaring at the one eyed geometry with a top hat.

“And how do you know that this is my true form?” He responded, as Tulip stood back up. “Anyways, normally I’d fry your brain and leave you a babbling husk; but I’m in a good mood. So instead-” William extended one hand with glowing blue fire billowing from the tips. “-how about a deal? I take the numbers off your hands, and in return, you catch me up on what I’ve missed.”

Tulip knew this was a terrible idea. On the one hand, the deal sounded good enough. But on the other hand, she had absolutely no reason to trust him. 

“I’ll think about it.”

“Oh you have all night to… decide...” His speech slowed, as he scanned his surroundings. “No! This can’t be happening! It’s three million years too soon!” He said, in a strangely scared tone. 

“What? What’s happening?” Tulip asked, before being answered by the sudden sounds of trumpets in the distance. The noise started to agitate the vines, causing them to thrash about. 

“I’ll take the numbers for free, just get me out of here!” He begged. A quake threw Tulip to the ground again. _Whatever at this point!_ She took his hand, causing the numbers to slide off her skin. 

As the red sun began to open, Tulip woke in a sweat. Then she looked at herself. _No numbers. Man, I’ve been having some weird dreams lately._ She looked at her alarm clock. It was morning. 

Her normal morning routine went the usual why, until she saw the look on her mother’s face. She looked like she had seen a ghost.

“What happened to your eyes?” She asked, snapping a photo of her and handing the phone to Tulip. She was very used to having to do that, after the whole no-reflection thing.

Tulip almost dropped the phone. Her eyes were a sickly yellow, with her pupils stretched vertically; just like that William-guy.

* * *

Kipo found herself face to face with a mute twice her size. Her body was broad and muscular, with a shrimp’s head on top. She was wearing a military uniform and a captain’s hat. A badge on her uniform in the shape of a rose immediately caught Kipo’s eyes. 

“Ya’ve been out for a few hours now, and I couldn’t let ya sleep on the floor,” She explained. “The name’s General Kril.” She held out one of her four arms to shake. 

Kipo happily shook hands with her. “I’m Kipo Oak, and wow! You are one big mute.”

“Mute?” General questioned, tilting her large head. “Never mind; it’s not important right now.” She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small whistle. She blew into it, creating a sound louder than the Train. Not long after, a hoard of smaller shrimp in soldier's gear jumped down from the top of the train car. The army of smaller shrimp formed ranks, standing upright. 

“Whoa!”

“Alright ya dumb shrimps!” General shouted. “The passenger is now awake! We cannot let a passenger wander around a red zone, so we should take her out-” Before she could even finish, every soldier pointed a harpoon gun at Kipo; who backed onto the bridge connecting the train cars, fearing for her life. “-of the red zone.” She continued, causing the shrimps to lower their weapons. 

“Excuse me Ms. Kril, I hope you don’t mind me asking, but **where am I**?!” Kipo asked, hiding behind the general. 

“Ya on the Train,” She explained, lifting Kipo onto her shoulder. “Don’t worry, I know a way to send ya back home.”

“Really?” Kipo asked, wanting off this crazy ride. Before she could ask more questions, General leaped high into the air and onto the top of the train car. 

“That’s right, shrimpy,” She said, dashing across the train car. The army of shrimp followed after, but they had to use grappling hooks to get up so they lagged behind. “Just stick with me and ya’ll be out of here in no time.”

“I don’t know. Last time a gang of mutes was this nice from the get go, I almost got eaten by wolves.” 

General held Kipo in her lower arms, as she leapt from one train car to another. “Don’t worry about it; we’ve already had every opportunity to kill you,” General explained. 

“That- Doesn’t make me feel better.”

“Ah, but we didn’t kill you, so there’s no reason to be afraid.”

Kipo looked out into the wasteland, then up at the spiraling vortex in the sky. _What is this place? And can these shrimp really help me?_

* * *

Steven could barely keep his eyes open, but his vision was dark and cloudy. His head hurt too much to let him move. He could see the chaos around him; he could feel the vine around his neck. It wasn’t choking him, only holding him upright. In his haze, he saw two silhouettes standing over him.

“Now we cut him open and take his gem, right?” A young voice spoke. 

“Correct,” A cold and emotionless voice replied.

“Actually, it would be cleaner to just pull it out. Do that instead.”

“Understood,” The figure said, reaching down to lift Steven’s shirt. There was a large crash, as a large piece of rubble forced the two back; who swiftly retreated into the darkness. Before falling under again, he felt himself loosen up. He saw that Lapis had pulled him out of there, so he knew he was in good hands.


	3. The Scarlet Car

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a quick chapter for ya.

It felt like she was back in her borrow. General had taken her to a train car that was entangled in large red vines. Within the car’s walls was a wondrous community. Just like her borrow; it was both open and spacious, yet enclosed and tightly packed. There were shops, cozy looking housing made of red vines, and taller buildings made from scrap metal and more red vines. 

It looked like a surface world paradise. She saw humans alongside mutes; talking and thriving with each other. There were more members of the shrimp navy, large lobsters people, and tiny crabs people. There wasn’t any fighting or hostility on the surface.

“What do ya think?” General asked, putting a hand on Kipo’s shoulder. “Pretty cool, right? A safe haven and pit stop, all in one.”

“It’s incredible...” Kipo said back. “Human and mutes; working together. I wish this was the way it always was.”

“Sounds rough, shrimp. These mutes must be like the denizens, right? Not human, but just as smart.”

Kipo rubbed her shoulder, as she turned to face her. “Yeah, kinda. Most of humanity live in underground burrows; that’s where I’m from.”

General looked her up and down. “Yer not all human, are ya.”

“No! Ugh! Maybe?!” Kipo took a seat on a nearby bench. “I don’t know! I’m half mute, but don’t even know how! Was my mother half mute?! I wish I could ask her!” General sat down next to her, giving her a pat on the shoulder. The pink girl stared down at her mute arm, trying to make it turn back.  _ Come on! You’re part of my body, work with me!  _ She closed her eyes, trying to concentrate on making it disappear. But when she opened them again, she saw that her number had risen to twenty two. “Wh- What?!”

“Well that’s weird.”

“What does this number mean?! Is there a score?! Am I being scored?!”

The large shrimp closed Kipo’s large paw. “Don’t worry about the number, there’s nothing to worry about.” She stood up and held out her hand. “We can get ya out of here.”

Kipo took her hand, doing everything in her power to not look at her number. The two of them walked through the town, which made Kipo notice something really strange; the vines. The vines were constantly moving, growing, and shrinking. She saw two people, a woman and a crawfish, having an argument; completely oblivious to the red vines wrapping them. But when the two kissed and made up, the vines loosened their grip.

“Crafty?”

“Oh Ms. Kril?” An older woman asked, giving the general a quick hug. She had a green glow covering most of her body.

“How are things treating ya?” General asked back.

“I’m just glad that you’re not holding any grudges, I don’t really deserve this kindness.”

“Nonsense,” General walked the woman over to Kipo. “Amelia, meet Kipo. She’s new in town.”

Kipo held her human hand out and shook Amelia’s hand. “Nice to meet you.” 

“I’ve never seen a passenger like you before,” Amelia said, puzzled by her appearance. “Why are you pink?”

“I don’t want to talk about it bye!” She interrupted, hastily walking away. As she walked, she heard the sound of her number changing, but she didn’t bother to check. 

She found a nice dark spot to hide from everyone else, so she could figure out how to control herself alone. Her eyes closed again, as she hoped something would change.  _ Normal arm now! _ When her eyes opened, her night vision had returned.  _ Ugh! Not what I wanted!  _ “ **Why won’t you work?!** ” She cried out, only to hear a second voice speaking at the same time. She covered her mouth, hearing the voice from around the corner.

“How can you help your friends, if you can’t even help yourself. You’re just going to get them killed. But if you lose the arm, maybe you could get something better than that heavy arm of yours.”

A loud metallic smash is heard, as a robotic voice starts talking over the other voice. “ Stupid plants! Who are you even talking to ?!”

_ Plants? What? _ Kipo peeked around the corner. A large robot, with an oval head and a centaur-like body, was ripping a bundle of vines to ribbons. It had a flat green line across the front of its face. When Kipo tried to lean over a little more, her arm weighed her down and she fell. The robot immediately turned to face her, before crawling over to her. 

“Oi, Mechanic!” The familiar voice of General yelled, with her suddenly standing in between the two. “She’s with me. And stop messing with tha vines!”

“ Ugh! Fine! ” It said, gripping it’s own head, before crawling backwards and up a building. “ Just keep your dumb weeds out of my work! It’s really annoying when it starts talking! ” And with that, it crawled out of sight.

General helped Kipo get to her feet, letting Kipo see that her number was now thirty. 

“Listen up shrimp! Here in the Scarlet Car; nobody will judge your number or appearance. Just stick with me and you’ll be home in no time.”

Truth be told, she didn’t care what anyone else thought about her. The only thing she cared about was getting off of this train and defending her friends. No matter what.


	4. A Physical Enemy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shorter chapter for ya  
> Next chapter should be longer.

The sun was rising over the ruins of Little Homeworld. The gems of the earth colony had been successfully evacuated, but the Crystal Gems failed to prevent its destruction. The only building still standing was the main tower, which had been completely overtaken by the red vines.

Steven was in terrible shape. Something about the vines had caused him intense pain, so Lapis had to pull him out of there. The Crystal Gems regrouped at the lighthouse above the Temple. Lapis placed Steven into a sleeping bag, giving him time to rest. Peridot was busy analyzing a piece of the vines, trying to learn anything about this threat.

“Anything new we need to know, Tiny?” Bismuth asked, looking out at the destruction of their work. 

“I have good news and bad news,” She answered, before double checking her device. “Actually, I only have bad news. It can regenerate.” The small chuck of plant matter had grown larger, creating smaller vines that borrowed inside Peridot’s device and causing it to short circuit. 

“I can’t believe this!” Bismuth yelled, slamming her hammer into the ground. “After everything we’ve built, it’s all getting destroyed by some overpowered garden pests?!”

“This ain't no simple weed!”

The three gems turned to the lighthouse, seeing an unknown figure standing on top of it. Their identity was hidden by a cloak, but they didn’t look any taller than Peridot. The gems jumped into action; Lapis immediately flying up to meet them, followed by Peridot lifting Bismuth up. 

“Who are you?!”

“Me?” They snarced back, backing up to the edge of the roof. “I’m not telling you lousy gems nothing.”

“That doesn’t make any sense!” The green gem shouted, as the three gems backed them into a corner. 

“No it makes perfect sense. You gems are nothing but no good destroyers.”

“Then this is all a misunderstanding,” Lapis explained. “Homeworld isn’t colonizing planets anymore.”

“Oh you say that now, but you gems are easily corrupted, so I’m doing you guys a favor. Get off this planet now, or this will be an act of war.”

“No! We’ve come too far to let you-” Before Bismuth could finish, the pint-sized opponent delivered a swift punch to the face, which knocked her off the lighthouse. Peridot was able to catch her with magnetic powers, only to be thrown off as well. 

Lapis flew up high, creating a large hand of water that swatted the attacker, destroying the lighthouse as well. The ruble fell to the beach below, with the attacker’s cloak ripped to shreds; but they were nowhere to be seen. Out of the corner of her eye, Lapis saw someone swimming down the arm of water. To prevent their escape, she turned the arm into dozens of chains that wrapped them. They tried to struggle free to no avail, giving Lapis an opportunity to see their face.

They weren’t human, but they certainly weren’t a gem either. Their body was shelled, like crab or lobster. They also had a creepy shrimp mouth and large buggy eyes. They were wearing simple rags and a single badge in the shape of a rose. Their arms split in two; with the top arms forming into large fists, and the bottom arms as normal human hands.

“Can you free my arms?” They asked. “I really want to punch you.”

“Oh I will, once you explain **who you are and** **why you are attacking us!** ”

They looked surprised by Lapis’ outburst. “Jeez lady, no need to yell. It's not the end of the world.”


	5. Nobody

The three gems stood around their prisoner; who was still chained up, but didn’t even try to escape. Bismuth had brought Steven with her, who was still asleep. Best to keep an eye on him.

“Let's start easy,” Lapis spoke first, creating a spear of water and thrusting it inches away from their face. The prisoner just rolled their eyes at this attempt at intimidation. “Who are you?!”

The prisoner yawned for a few seconds, before responding. “I’m Nobody from Nowheresville. I’m just doing what I was told.” Lapis pulled the spear back.

“Who sent you?!” Bismuth shouted.

“My mom.”

Peridot stepped up. “Well- who is your mom?”

“She’s my superior.”

“No, who is she?” Peridot asked again.

Nobody rolled their eyes. “Does it matter?”

Peridot looked like she was about to explode. “Let’s change the subject.” She angrily said under her breath. “If you give us information about the bio weapon, we might let you go.”

“I won’t tell you anything. Plus, these chains kinda turn me on.” Nobody explained, getting weird looks from their captors. “What? I’m a teenager. Teenagers are all about sexual awakenings.” Then it hit them. “You guys don’t know what that is right.”

“Um… No.” 

“Well let me tell you a little about the shrimp and the seagulls.”

“ **No!** ” Bismuth yelled, stomping her foot into the sand. She looked like she was ready to kill them. The prisoner just snickered at this, before looking over at Steven’s sleeping bag.

“I do know what happened to Geometry over there. He got too close.”

“Geometry?”

“Close?” 

“Does this have something to do with the vines?” Lapis asked, trying to get something out of them. 

“Is he- like- okay?” Nobody asked back. “Like emotionally okay?”

Lapis looked a little upset all of the sudden. “What?! Of course he’s okay! Why wouldn’t-”

“Listen up girl, the first thing you should know about the Scarlet is that it feeds on negative emotions; like how normal plants feed on sunlight.” They explained, catching everyone’s attention. “Anger, hatred, self-loathing, self-doubt; all of those things make it rapidly grow. That’s rule number one of the Scarlet. Did he have any issues big enough for it to actually try to feed on his physical body.”

It came rushing back to them. All of the pain. All of the pain. It had built up over time, until it overflowed. Until he corrupted himself. But that was months ago and he was still healing. The gems looked down, before turning to face the sleeping hybrid.

“Keep him away from it,” Nobody requested, surprising the others. “The Scarlet will try to bring out those negative feelings, so keep him at a safe distance.”

“Wait, so you’re willing to help him but not us?” Peridot asked.

“I do what I want."

“And is there anything else we need to know?” Lapis asked, crouching down to meet eye-to-eye. “I will let you go if you just tell me.”

Unknown stared for a few seconds, before bursting out into a hellish laughing fit. The gems backed up a little, as Unknown started to trace multiple glowing rings in the air with their fingers. Out of each ring sprouts a floating arm. They quickly create six new arms, which easily rip the chains of water apart. They stood up proud, causing the gems to hesitate on attacking them. 

“You still want to save your little community?! Just build a new one somewhere else! Don’t try to take back Little Homeworld. You don’t stand a chance against the Red Rose Navy; don’t pointlessly throw your lives away.” They traced a large ring in the air, before jumping through it and vanishing like dust in the wind. Now it was just the gems. 

* * *

Steven didn’t know where he was. He was standing in a dark void, with a tower of stone in front of him. The red vines were wrapped around the town in a spiral pattern. And at the top was a gargantuan flower bud, that shook and pulsed. And he turned to see a girl with red hair behind him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been very busy, so the next chapter might take awhile.


	6. The Tower

Tulip looked around the empty void she was trapped in. The only thing visible in the inky black was a stone tower in the distance. The tower was in ruin, yet it still stretched high into the nonexistent sky. Red vines were wrapped around it, creating a large spiral upwards. She decided to run over, in order to get a closer look. 

“ _Hey Onions! If you care about being useful, go in there._ ” William said, speaking from inside her head. However Tulip wasn’t listening, so instead she stopped in her tracks. 

“I’m dreaming right now, so why don’t you do it?” She asked out loud, causing William to pop out of her head.

“Fine, I guess I have to do all the work,” He said, before flying into the side of the tower. He smashed through the stone, leaving a hole in the wall. 

With this nice moment of peace and quiet, Tulip kicked back and laid down. She didn’t even know what the ground was. There’s been a lot on her mind. That William guy had been constantly trying to talk to her, trying to boss her around. He acted really powerful, but his resurrection might have left him weak. Or he might just be full of it. Probably both. 

Then there was this scratching sound, followed by booming trumpets. She jumped to her feet, seeing a large mass of vines approaching her. They compacted into a shape, morphing into a humanoid form. This new shape disconnected from the mass, standing on its own two legs. It looked around, before turning to look at Tulip. Instead of eyes, it had two pink rose buds in its eye sockets. It opened a crude mouth, trying to speak, but only strange screeching came out. Tulip stepped closer, but hesitated on saying anything. 

“Um… Hi?” She blurted out. “My name’s Tulip.” 

The plant person made a low hiss, before the tower wall burst open, knocking both of them down. A large suit of crimson colored armor came charging out, chopping the entity in two with its massive pair of shears. 

The man in the armor quickly stood up straight. “ **Show!** ” They looked all around, somehow unable to see Tulip, who had already run the opposite way. “ **Sound! Two! Invisible!** ” Tulip looked back, seeing them looking right at her. They leapt high into the air, crashing down in front of her, knocking her back. “ **Dust! Talk!** ”

“Um… Hi?” She repeated, picking herself up. “My name’s Tulip.”

They tilted their helmet in confusion. “ **Tulip? Flower?** ” The towering entity lifted her up and quickly jumped back to the tower. Through her screaming, Tulip noticed that the vines had picked up the stone rubble and repaired the stone wall. The armored warrior just jumped through the newly repaired wall. 

Within the tower was a gargantuan garden, way bigger than the exterior. There were tons of plants, of many different sizes and shapes, all alien to Tulip. Knights in similar armor were tending to the plants, trimming and watering them. The one that kidnapped her went to an empty pot and pushed her into the soil. When they were done, Tulip was up to her waist in dirt. The towering knight clapped the dirt off and turned to leave, a job well done.

She was a mix of scared and annoyed, as she crossed her arms and pouted. “Didn’t even give me a name.”

The knight stopped in their tracks, before turning back and leaning down to her level. “ **Oak! Name! Mine!** ” They took their helmet off, revealing a relatively normal human girl underneath. She looked about Tulip’s age and had half of her hair buzzed off. The only thing off was her eyes, which were replaced with tiny mirrors. Then it clicked. _She can only see reflections._ She got really close to her face, giving her a quick sniff before backing up. 

The knight stood up again, screwing her helmet back on and walking away. Tulip couldn’t move, but she was going to wake up eventually, so she wasn’t in a hurry.

* * *

Steven woke up screaming, sweat dripping down his neck. He was back in his bed, with the rest of the Crystal Gems arguing outside. He felt a sharp pain in his stomach, as he pulled the blankets off. His blood froze. A red vine had borrowed into his skin and was wrapping itself around his gem on the inside.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another quick one  
> Been quite busy  
> Love you all


	7. Seven Commanders

“Wake up, shrimp! We’ve got a job for you!”

Kipo jolted up, hit her head on the bunk above her. As she rubbed her forehead, she looked around for a second. General Kril was standing at the side of her bed, waiting for her to get up. Kipo lifted her other arm up.  _ Yep, still a paw. _

“Look, I was nice enough to give ya my bed, but we need to get ya out of here.” 

General stepped out, giving Kipo time to get ready. She stood up, giving her big paw a stretch; careful to not bash her hand against the wall. For being General's personal bedroom, it was tiny. A bunk bed, toilet, sink, and one cabinet; that’s it. 

Since Kipo had fallen asleep in her clothes, she did need to get dressed, so she just walked right out. General was waiting for her, before signaling her to follow. The two of them walked down the hall, not saying a word between them. It was long before General opened a double door and held it open for Kipo.

“I need to hold a quick conference, so I’ll let ya sit in my office chair.” 

The office was mostly empty, with a circle of plastic chairs in the center and a metal desk by the window. Kipo sat in the large office chair, looking at all the cool things on the desk. There were no less than three flower vases, a small pile of cell phones, a jar filled with green liquid and an eyeball inside, and a cool lobster shaped pencil holder. The window overlooked the community, from the top of the tallest building in the Scarlet Car. 

General pulled a communicator out of her pocket, pressing a small red button on the side. “Attention commanders!” She said into it, in a much more commanding voice. “Meeting in my office, immediately!” 

After five minutes of waiting, three people stepped through the door and quickly took a seat in the circle of chairs. The first was a small mantis shrimp kid in a rag, who gave General a quick hug. The second was a small robot drone, which jumped up onto a chair and projected an image above it. The only thing that was visible in the projection was gloved hands out of the darkness. The last one was hard for Kipo to determine. They looked like a glowing pink projecting of a teenage boy, with the red vines wrapped around them. They silently took a seat next to the mantis shrimp kid. 

“Are we the only ones who showed up?” The mechanic spoke from the drone, pressing a button to speak. 

“Guess so,” General said, gathering up a few of the phones from her desk and placing them on the chairs. She pressed a different button, which activated the phones. “Alright punks, role call!” She shouted, standing in the middle of the circle. “Nuela!”

“You already know I’m here,” The mantis shrimp kid answered.

“Bill!”

“Present,” Answered a young voice.

“Solar!” 

“Always ready to serve, general!” Answered a high-pitched and nasaly voice.

“Yeah, whatever ya say. Wormwood!”

“Feeling your energy every day,” Answered an unsettling voice.

“Aries!”

A low growl responded.

“Foureyes!”

“Uh- yeah,” said the mechanic, clearly not paying full attention.

“And Geometry!”

The pink boy blankly stared at General.

“As reported this morning, Nuela successfully activated the Scarlet seed pod. So I think it’s time to start stage two.” General explained. “Any objections?” It became deathly silent. “Good. Now there's someone I’d like ya to meet.” She said, waving for Kipo to come over. She slowly walked over, nervous as hell but trying to stay calm. “This is Kipo, and she’ll be the first we send home.” 

“You’re pink,” Nuela said, well elbowing the pink boy next to them. “I like her already.”

“She’s in a hurry, so get this set up right away.”

“You got it,” They said, dragging their silent pink partner out the door. 

General pushed Kipo towards the door. “Just follow them, they’ll get ya home.” Before returning to the circle. “Now Bill, how's the tower looking right now?” Was the last thing she heard from General. Kipo didn’t want to go back in there; the eyeball had turned to face her.


	8. Stage Two: Starting Too Early

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally done. just take it....

“Hey Steven!” Peridot yelled, while knocking on the bathroom door. “Are you okay?!”

Steven was laying in the bathtub, with his shirt off. The vines had dug deeper into his body, pushing his gem outwards. It felt like he was getting stabbed, only on the inside. “I’m fine.” He said back, in too much pain to speak up. Blood slowly leaked from his gem, as a sudden sharp pain in his lower back forced a scream out of him. A vine started to wrap around his spine, causing his body to freeze up.

Almost immediately after his scream, the gems forced the door open. They froze in horror, as a red vine emerged from Steven’s mouth. Before anyone could act, Steven let out a faint “help”, as vines burst from his chest and head. A clump of bloodstained plant mass rapidly grew from his split skull. 

Refusing to waste anymore time, Bismuth yanked the vines upwards, trying to pry it off of him. Lapis used her power to return the blood to Steven’s system. Peridot took a kitchen knife to the vines, hacking them away to give Bismuth an easier time. After a minute of pulling, Bismuth managed to free him from the vines; throwing the clump across the room. It thrashed around the bathroom floor, slowly growing larger. That was the least of the gems concerns. 

Steven’s face was almost completely destroyed and his chest had busted open. His very visible insides were crushed, his ribs shattered like shards of glass. He wasn’t moving, nor breathing. Tears flowed from the three, as his gem flashed it’s pink light. His whole body was surrounded by this eerie pink glow, as his body began to heal. Not before long, Steven was back; gasping for air and thrashing about. He had never been more scared in his life; like his body was trying to corrupt again.

In his panicked state, the three tried to calm him down. The three hugged him tightly, scared out of their minds as well. After a while, Steven hugged them back. They stayed like this for minutes, their tears filling the bathtub. Steven felt calm. So calm that he almost didn’t notice the plant-like arms joining the group hug. 

The Crystal Gem quickly turned to face the new figure. It was the red vines, only in the shape of Steven, with a rose growing from its fake hair. It backed up, falling backwards and hissing at the gems. Bismuth readied her hammer, only to be stopped by a familiar pink bubble. Despite Steven being on the other side of the room, this mimic had used his power to protect itself. At the moment, Steven could even summon his own bubble.

But he was just glad to be still alive.

* * *

“Hey, you passed out on us.” 

Kipo opened her eyes, her head hurting like crazy. Nuela was standing over her, tapping her on the forehead repeatedly. They were out in the plaza now, but with very few people in the streets. Kipo tried to stand, but something stopped her. 

Nuela snapped their fingers, calling the pink boy over. “Geo, start cutting into this!” 

“Cutting into whAT!?” 

The vines had completely engulfed her legs, slowly pulling her towards a large device in the center of the plaza. Geo began to ripe the vines off of her, Kipo joining in with her claw. With each scrap removed, the remaining vines grew tighter and tighter, until Kipo could barely feel anything. A voice began to whisper to her.

“Imagine the power you’ll gain,” It softly spoke, sounding more like screaming in the back of her mind. “Lose everything. Become a beast. Humans are too weak.”

The vines began to pull her upwards, into an opening inside a capsule. “What happened?!” Kipo yelled, as she was pulled inside by her feet. Her yells were drowned out by loud metallic clanging sounds. 

“I don’t know!” Nuela yelled back, as the clanging grew louder. “You were following us, then the Scarlet grabbed you and you just collapsed!”

The clanging stopped, as a light pierced the darkness inside the capsule. The vines began to squeeze her even harder than before. It felt like it was trying to bury itself in her skin. 

“Once the device is finished pinpointing your exit, we’ll pull you out!” The mechanic spoke out, peeking a camera into the capsule. “Just need to find we’re you’ll end up.”

Everything began to shake, as a blinding light shone from outside. The vines pulled Kipo down, preventing her from seeing outside anymore. 

“Oh that’s bad. Uh, Nuela and Geo! I need for you to go back to Earth right now! Looks like stage two is starting early!”

“Understood.”

“Don’t have to tell me twice.”

* * *

A bright light engulfed the outside of the train car, as the Scarlet began to grow in size. They pushed the car off the tracks, before housing the tons of steel into the air. It slowly rose higher, before reaching the vortex in the sky. It forced its way inside, breaking the barrier between worlds, before crashing down on the other end.

* * *

He saw this object fall from the night sky, crashing in the wood a ways away, but as loud as thunder. Dipper needed to know what it was. 


End file.
